October 25, 2007

leasing 2007

My Jetta lease is up in December. I need to decide on a new ride. Suggestions?

It has to be a manual transmission. Driving is a fun skill, and I get bored when my right hand and left foot have nothing to do (sexual puns aside).

I will lease again, so I can shoot for a higher cost car as long as the residual value after 2.5-4 years is decent enough. Paying on $15,000 of depreciation is the same whether the sticker price is $25,000 or $50,000.

Posted by blaine at 17:15 (-06:00) | Comments (2)

October 24, 2007

24th of October in history

Things that happened on this day in history, as defined by the arbitrary system of time measurement based on the Earth's current orbital schedule around the Sun:

1836 - Match patented by A. Phillips.

1861 - The first transcontinental telegraph message was sent from California to President Abraham Lincoln.

1861 - Last ride of the Pony Express.

1901- Anna Edson Taylor, a 43-year-old widow, became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She made the attempt for the cash award offered, which she put toward the loan on her Texas ranch.

1929 - "Black Thursday" stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange.

1939 - Nylon stockings were sold publicly for the first time, in Wilmington, Delaware.

1940 - 40 hour work week established in US.

1980 - The merchant freighter SS "Poet" departed Philadelphia bound for Port Said, Egypt, with a crew of 34 and a cargo of grain; it was never heard from again..

1989 - Rev. Jim Bakker sentenced to 45 years for swindling his followers

2003 - Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic transport to a close.

Oh, and it's National Blogna Day. And Maladay, for you Discordians.

Posted by blaine at 10:58 (-06:00) | Comments (0)